LOWER DIVISION. also satisfactory; but his seniority in another Department may not, and the Commissioners think should not, be recognised in the office to which he is transferred. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Newell's letter and its enclosures of the 10th instant, and to acquaint you, in reply, that in the case of a lower division clerk who is transferred from one Department to another the date of his triennial increment, subject to the condition as to conduct, should be governed by the date of his first appointment in that capacity. With regard to his position in the office, as no question of promotion by seniority can ever arise (see Order in Council, 12 Feb. 1876, secs. 13, 16, 17), my Lords consider that it would be superfluous, as well as inexpedient, to lay down any general rule on the subject, because the responsibility of assigning to each clerk of the lower division such duties as he is judged to be best suited to perform rests wholly in the discretion of the heads of the department in which he is serving. The Commissioners of National Education, Ireland. I am, &c. (Signed) R. R. W. LINGEN. Effect of resignation. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. SIR, " [238.] 24th December 1877. I AM directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to enclose, for the information of the Lords of the Treasury, copy of a letter from Mr.... a clerk of the lower division now employed in the Surveying Branch of the Inland Revenue Department, inquiring (1) whether he could be transferred to another situation in the lower division; and (2) whether, if he were to resign his present position, he would be eligible for re-appointment elsewhere. The liability, to which clerks in the above-mentioned branch are subject, of being moved to different parts of the United Kingdom was pointed out by the Board of Inland Revenue when announcing the vacancy to which Mr. . . . . was assigned; but the Commissioners were unable to see how, under Clause 9 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876, as interpreted, with the assent of their Lordships, by my letter of the 27th of January last, they could do otherwise than select for this vacancy the candidate who, at the time, stood next in order on the list of unappointed clerks. They would be glad, however, to be informed whether their Lordships concur with them in this view, and also whether, in their Lordships' opinion, they are right in assuming that a person who has been once assigned to a lower division clerkship in any department must, if he resigns his position in that department, be regarded as no longer on the list of lower division clerks. I have, &c. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, 6th February 1878. In reply to the questions raised in Mr. Mann's letter of the 24th December upon Clause 9 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876 in its application to the case of Mr....., at present employed as a clerk of the lower division in the Tax Surveying Branch of the Inland Revenue, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to state : LOWER DIVISION. 1. That my Lords read the words "as a general rule" in Clause 9 of the Order as open to no exception save the one which is introduced by the word "but". They think that the considerations according to which this clause should be administered are satisfactorily stated in Mr. Mann's Effect of letter to this Board of 27th January 1877. resignation. 2. My Lords think that a lower division clerk, who, having been appointed to a department, resigns his appointment, cannot be held thereby to have restored himself to your list, from which (according to the last paragraph of Clause 8 of the Order) he was removed, ipso facto, on receiving his appointment. He becomes thenceforth simply a private person, and can re-enter the Civil Service only by ways open to private persons. I am, &c. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. [102.] 18th April 1877. SIR, THE Civil Service Commissioners have before them a case which Period of raises the question whether it is competent for the head of a depart- probation. ment to decline to accept, under Clause 10 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876, a clerk of the lower division before the expiration of his first year of service. The Commissioners are aware that on them must rest the responsibility of deciding this question, but as the language of the clause is open to some doubt, and as the Lords of the Treasury are probably cognizant of the intention with which it was framed, they desire me to request that you will move their Lordships to cause them to be informed of their views on the subject. It may be right to add that the Commissioners do not mean in any way to call in question the right of every head of a department to dismiss at any time, irrespectively of the clause referred to, a clerk guilty of misconduct. As the case now pending is of some urgency, the Commissioners would be obliged by an early intimation of their Lordships' opinion. I have, &c. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, 26th April 1877. THE Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had before them Mr. Mann's letter of 18th instant, in which, with reference to a case before your Commission which raises the question whether it is competent for the head of a department to decline to accept under Clause 10 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876 a clerk of the lower division before the expiration of his first year of service, you inquire with what intention Clause 10 was framed, "as the language of that clause is open to some doubt." I am, in reply, to state that, so far as my Lords are aware of the intention with which Clause 10 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876 was framed, the intention of it was to oblige the heads of departments to make themselves acquainted with, and to become responsible for, the competency or otherwise of the clerks entering their departments by open competition, in fact, to make the departmental approval of the candidate as necessary and formal a condition of his continued employment as the Civil Service certificate is of his admission. LOWER DIVISION. Period of probation. Employment of Lower Divi sion Clerks as temporary Copyists. Employment of successful candidates for the Excise as temporary Copyists. Clause 10 explains the probation mentioned in Clause 9. It is negative in its form, and appears to my Lords to prescribe, not that the probation shall last for a year, but that it shall not last for more than a year. I am, &c. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. [125.] 9th June 1877. SIR, Their Lordships will no doubt at once recognise the importance of keeping the reserve in question large enough to enable the Commissioners to meet promptly the demands which may be made upon them by the various departments for lower division clerks. On the other hand, the maintenance of a sufficient reserve implies to some of the selected candidates a postponement of employment for possibly several months, and, although they will have competed with due notice of this condition, it seems desirable to lessen, as far as may be, the inconvenience thus occasioned. The suggestion which the Commissioners have to submit for meeting this difficulty is that all lower division clerks should, while unemployed in that capacity, be eligible, without further examination, for registra tion as temporary copyists, the men clerks as men copyists, and the boy clerks as boy copyists. The Commissioners would then be generally able to provide employment for any clerk willing to accept it, during the interval preceding his permanent appointment, at much the same rate of pay as that which he would receive as a clerk of the lower division. Should their Lordships approve of this suggestion, a proviso would have to be introduced into the regulations respecting temporary copyists, and the enclosed draft* is submitted as containing all the alteration needful for this purpose. It may be as well to point out that men clerks could thus become men copyists at the age of 17 instead of 18, which is the limit for ordinary candidates. The Commissioners do not themselves see any objection to this, but in case their Lordships should think differently, restrictive words could be easily introduced. I have, &c. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. WITH reference to your letters of the 19th June 1877 and 16th July 1877, conveying the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury to the introduction into the regulations respecting temporary copyists of a provision under which men and boy clerks of the lower division can *The Regulations as finally settled are printed on p. 31. LOWER DIVISION. be registered for service as temporary copyists while awaiting permanent appointment, Employment I am directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to acquaint you, for the information of their Lordships, that the change in question has of successful hitherto worked very satisfactorily. A considerable number of un- candidates for appointed lower division clerks have applied to be registered, and have the Excise as received employment as copyists, greatly, it is believed, to the advantage temporary both of themselves and of the departments in general. Copyists. The satisfactory result of this experiment has led the Commissioners to believe that further advantage might result if the privilege of registration were extended to the candidates selected at the half-yearly examinations for the Excise, the subjects prescribed for which are more extensive than those prescribed for copyists. As these examinations, like those for the lower division, are intended to provide for six months' vacancies in advance, many of the successful candidates must wait for several months before they can enter on "instructions," and some of them would, it is believed, be anxious to obtain temporary employment in the interval. Moreover, as the persons selected for the Excise are, to a much greater extent than men or boy clerks, dispersed over the country, the Commissioners, if authorised to avail themselves of their services, would be able, more frequently and more promptly than at present, to supply demands for temporary copyists for short periods at the various Customs' outports and other provincial towns. With these views the Commissioners desire me to submit for their Lordships' consideration the enclosed draft of Copyists' Regulations, with such alterations in paragraph 2 as would if adopted give effect to the suggested extension. I have, &c. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, 17th January 1878. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you that my Lords have learned with much pleasure from Mr. Horace Mann's letter of the 11th instant, that the arrangement which they sanctioned with respect to the temporary employment as copyists of men and boy clerks of the lower division. while awaiting permanent appointment has given general satisfaction; and I am to state that they approve of the proposal to extend it to the case of assistants of Excise. My Lords also approve of the alterations in the Regulations as noted upon the copy of the rules in Mr. Mann's letter. I am, &c. The Secretary, Civil Service Commission, to the Secretary, Treasury. [144.] 11th July 1877. SIR, I AM directed by the Civil Service Commissioners to acknowledge Substitution the receipt of your letter of the 2nd instant, enclosing for such obser- of Lower vations as they may desire to make thereon copy of a letter from Division boy the War Office, inquiring whether the Secretary of State is at liberty, temporary on temporary assistance being required in his office, to apply to this Copyists Board for boy clerks instead of temporary copyists. *The Regulations as finally settled are printed on p. 31. clerks for LOWER DIVISION. Substitution of Lower Division boy clerks for temporary Copyists. In reply, I am to state, for the information of the Lords of the Treasury, that, if their Lordships should see fit to sanction the creation of a certain number of boy clerkships in the War Office, the Civil Service Commissioners do not anticipate any difficulty in providing boys to fill such situations temporarily in accordance with Clause 9 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876. From the experience which they have had in their own office of the capacity of boy writers for "mere copying, and for routine work under "direct supervision," the Commissioners believe that boy clerks might in many cases be employed with advantage in substitution for men copyists, and they are not aware of any objection to such a substitution, unless their Lordships are of opinion that it would be contrary to the intention of Clause 19 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876. I have, &c. The Secretary, Treasury, to the Civil Service Commissioners. MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN, 25th July 1877. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you herewith for your information, with reference to Mr. Mann's letter to this Board, dated the 11th instant,-copy of a letter which my Lords have caused to be addressed to the War Office as to the employment in that department in certain cases of boy clerks in lieu of temporary copyists. ENCLOSURE. I am, &c. SIR, Treasury Chambers, 25th July 1877. I AM directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to state, for the information of Mr. Secretary Hardy, in reply to your letter of the 8th ultimo, that my Lords see no objection to the employment of boy clerks in place of men copyists in those cases where the employment is likely to be continuous. A boy clerk is a person who is selected by open competition in his 16th year, and is qualified for employment in that character until the end of his 19th year, but no longer. During that time, however, he holds an appointment in the office where he is employed, and differs in this respect from mere copyists. The Civil Service Commissioners, having been consulted by my Lords, state that, from the experience they have had in their own office, boy clerks might, in their opinion, in many cases be employed with advantage in substitution for men copyists. There can be no doubt that boy clerks cost not much more than half as much as men copyists, and that the examination which they undergo offers a superior test of education. It would not, however, be consistent with what my Lords understand to be the scope of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876 that youths thus selected should, as a rule, be taken in and discharged just as there might be work for them to do. They should be substituted for men copyists only to the extent of the minimum number of the latter which can be reckoned upon as constant. The mention of temporary service in Clause 9 of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876 had reference, my Lords presume, to service under Temporary Commissions, &c., or occasionally in the permanent offices of the State where such service is of a nature to demand qualifications superior to those of which writers have given proof, and is suitable to be undertaken by successful competitors (men or boys) for the lower division after they have passed their examinations, but before they have received permanent appointments. While, however, this is the view which my Lords take of the general scope of the Order in Council of 12th February 1876, it is proper to add that they have recently been in communication with the Civil Service Commissioners upon the subject of rendering provisionally available as temporary copyists such of the men and boys as, having passed the examination for the lower division, have not yet been appointed to situations. Such of them as may choose to take this sort of provisional employment will be at liberty to do so, but they will be on precisely the same footing as to pay, &c. as registered Civil Service copyists, whether men or boys, when so employed, except |